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A job as a CMO can be hazardous to your career. As reported by Advertising Age (registration required) and related sources, a new survey by Spencer Stuart indicates that the brief tenure of Chief Marketing Officers has shrunk even further, to an average of 23.2 months, down from 23.6 months in 2004. 

As reported in the article, reasons cited for the shorter tenures include extreme pressure for performance, short-term demands of Wall Street, lack of access to CEOs, and changing skill sets brought on by a changing media environment, which means top CMOs are being actively poached.

With such a revolving door in marketing departments, experts worry not only for job losses at the C-suite level, but also for lack of brand-steward continuity and accountability, let alone somebody willing to make the hard, longer-term decisions.

As the article states, some super CMO’s are thriving in this environment, such as the head marketing execs at Burger King and Starbucks, who have survived and been promoted. 

At the same time, the pressure is also creating C-level “nomads,” a reflection of the times and new realities. 

While there’s lots of upside, the article asserts that one’s tenure as a CMO could be even shorter if things go bad.  One exec describes the role of the CMO as “walking around with a bulls-eye on me.”